UPDATE: Sam’s , alas, has closed.
After the hearing in our redistricting case, we went to Sam’s for lunch. Sam’s is in a non-descript shopping center on the Atlanta Highway east of downtown Montgomery. I don’t associate barbecue places with shopping centers, but Sam’s is in a separate building and the shopping center itself has seen better days. Sam’s looks like a barbecue place. This picture doesn’t capture the smoke coming out of the chimney, which is a shame. It was lovely.
I couldn’t get a good picture of Sam’s pit, but rest assured that it produces good looking pork butts.
Sam’s has a limited menu. They serve pork and smoked sausage as a sandwich or a plate. The latter comes with two sides – baked beans and french fries, or you can have slaw if you ask for it specifically. No one did. They also have chips and brownies, iced tea and soft drinks. There are a lot of football photos but none of Bear Bryant of Shug Jordan. They apparently are trying to avoid alienating any potential customers.
The food is good. The barbecue has a rough chop and comes with sauce and pickles. There’s a good mix of inside and outside meat.
The meat benefits from being cooked over a pit with hickory, and has a good texture and flavor. The sauce is okay. The fries are good and the beans are very good. They’re cooked with barbecue and a sauce that avoids the usual cloying excess of molasses and brown sugar. A+ for the beans. I’m glad I didn’t think to get slaw.
James Anderson, the distinguished lawyer below, organized the lunch. Rick Pildes, a relative novice at Alabama barbecue, demonstrated his characteristic anticipation of issues and avoided getting any sauce on his shirt and tie.
If you’re in Montgomery, Sam’s is a good bet for lunch. They serve good, solid barbecue. And the sausage looks good. I forgot to ask if they serve Conecuh Sausage. I expect I’ll return.
John Tanner's Barbecue Blog 
I dunno, I like mushing the slaw, beans and ‘cue together. It must create a Russian dressing or something. I’d probably take anything compared to what we have in DC.
Except we’re living in Pretoria, South Africa now, the home of brai. Lots of grilling but not barbeque as we are discussing here.
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Intersting. I prefer my barbecue, with either pickle slices – plain dill chips – with their mild astringency, or raw chopped cabbage (not slaw) for texture and a little bitterness. I think pickles work best with a rough chop or slices, and the slaw works best with a finer, North Carolina chop. Raw onions, dill chips and jalapeños are good for brisket. I like the balance with the richness of the meat. But the key is eating barbecue the way you like it best.
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You are right. Cole slaw on top of chopped barbeque. The pickle slices are like cornichons with pate! I haven’t had that but I’m looking forward to it at some point. I’m getting hungry thinking about all this.
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Definitely have some pate’ with cornichons.
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Using your blog to plan my trip to Montgomery next week….after reading this review and deciding it was going to be on my list, I discovered it had closed. So disappointed!
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Dang! And the Dreamland there is closed, too. Try the gumbo at the Capitol Oyster Bar on the river (hard to find) or Martin’s (a meat and 3) in the Cloverdale section.
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